


You never broke your promise

by sarah_bae_maas



Category: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: F/M, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-12
Updated: 2018-12-12
Packaged: 2019-09-16 23:05:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16963179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarah_bae_maas/pseuds/sarah_bae_maas
Summary: Nesta confronts Cassian after she is turned into a fae. Originally posted August 28th, 2016 (before acowar was published)





	You never broke your promise

Cassian had been avoiding Nesta relentlessly. When she walked into a room at the House of Wind, the Illyrian warrior would find an excuse to leave. When she tried to come find him, he would bury himself in work. He found himself aimlessly wandering Velaris, walking along the rainbow, thoughts consumed by the girl he had promised to protect, and how he failed to do so.

So yes, Cassian has successfully managed to avoid the fury that was Nesta Archeron. That was, until now.

*

Nesta saw the hulking brute just as he sidestepped into a shop selling weaponry, a recent addition to the market. Nesta had been trying for weeks to speak to the army commander.

At first she wasn’t able to because he was confined to his bed while healers tried to fix his wings. The pain was too unbearable for him to stay conscious throughout their efforts, and Nesta was grateful for this. His ravaged wings were sliced to what looked like mere cloth hanging from the bare bones, bleeding for days until Amren managed to clot the wounds. Nesta wanted to help, _needed_ to help, but there was nothing of her basic human knowledge of healing that could fix Cassian’s wings. Luckily, there were healers that did have that knowledge, and now his wings were tightly wrapped and fixed in shape, so that they could heal and wouldn’t tear again.

She tried to see him again when he was conscious and speaking again, but the High Lord of the Night Court had sent her and her sister away to a secluded cabin, covered in what were obviously Feyre’s paintings. He told them that he would prefer it is they remain there while they secured the rest of potential Hybern soldiers within his realm, and Elain readily agreed, which meant that Nesta reluctantly did too.

Despite the magic within the cabin and the opportunity to fully understand her new body, her thoughts kept wandering back to the warrior who had sworn that he would protect her and her sister, and what she would say to him the next time she saw him. And _oh_ _did she have a few things to say._

Nesta chased into the store, nearly knocking down bystanders in her effort to reach Cassian. She slammed the door open, and huffed when she found him. Cassian turned to her in surprise, eyes widening and a crease forming between his eyebrows.

“Nesta? What are you doing here?” Was that nervousness she detected in his voice?

“I need to speak with you. Now. Before you have the chance to run away again.” She snarled in reply.

It had not gone past her how Cassian conveniently was nowhere to be seen when she entered the room, or had a massive amount of work to do despite Rhys being very clear that he was to rest until Cassian’s wings were in better condition. Oh no, she was well aware that he was avoiding her.

Back straight and arms crossed in front of her, she stalked until she was standing less than a foot away from the man that she could not stop thinking about.

*

 _This is it_ , Cassian thought, _she is going to slaughter me_.

Rather than let her see how nervous seeing her here made him feel, he plastered on his signature smirk and politely turned to the owner of the shop.

“Ma’am, would you mind taking a lunch break now? I’ll tend to the store while you are gone.” It was less of a question and more of a subtle demand, and it did not pass by the female employee watching with wide eyes.

“Of course, General. I’ll be gone for two hours. Is that long enough?”

“That will be fine thank you.”

She hurried around the store, closing the blinds and turning the small sign on the door to closed, before leaving in a hurry herself.

With the girl gone, there was no buffer between Cassian and Nesta. Once, Cassian would have not minded having his wits challenged by the eldest Archeron, but after his failure to keep his promise to her and her sister, he could barely stand to look her in the eyes.

Taking a deep breath, the smile still on his face, he turned to Nesta. “What would you like to speak about, sweetheart?”

He cheeks turned red and she bared her teeth in anger, barely able to refrain from her newly attained animal tendencies. “I would like to talk to you about what happened in Hybern. That is if you’ve stopped being a coward and will actually listen to me.”

Cassian’s smile faltered. “Nesta-“

“Listen you dumb prick.” She interrupted before he could say anything. The fury rolling off of her was palpable. “I’m sick and tired of hearing dumb men say stupid things. So please just listen.”

Cassian feigned wanting to look at the weaponry around him as an excuse to get away from her. She was right. He was a coward, and in no way shape or form was he ready to be torn down by the snarling women in front of him. He turned to the side and started idly looking at a range of cheap, but effective, swords.

“When people talk about bad things that happen to them, they say that it’s all hazy, they can barely remember it.” Nesta’s voice was barely above a whisper as she spoke, surprising Cassian. He turned back to look at her, but remained a few feet away from her. Her arms we no longer crossed, but loosing hanging at her sides, as if she didn’t have the energy to hold them up anymore. Her head was turned towards the ground, but it was obvious that the colour of her cheeks was spreading lower to her neck and chest.  “I think that they have been lying to me this entire time.”

Nesta walked to Cassian so that she was again only a foot from him, not looking directly into his eyes.

“I remember everything about that day,” she said quietly but clearly. “The way those men stormed into our home. How they made Elain scream and cry and there was nothing I could do about it. How they dragged us to that forsaken place and made me watch as they turned another one of my sisters into one of the things I hate the most. It’s almost funny.” She snorted. “It’s funny because I always swore that no matter what, I would never let what happened to Feyre happen to anyone else.”

Cassian looked at her silently, not daring to interrupt.

“I remember so clearly when they drowned me in that cauldron and my body tore itself apart and stitched itself back together, except it wasn’t _my_ body anymore. I could feel the new length to it, the new strength, and that minute I swore that any attribute that damned cauldron, gave to me I would use ten-fold against the blasted king who forced me to be that way.”

Nesta stopped, gently laying her hand against Cassian’s shoulder. Before he could object, not that he would, she slowly trailed it up until it was resting against his cheek.

Cassian leaned into her touch, unable to help himself.

“Why are you telling me this Nesta?”

It broke him. It broke him to hear about how this strong, beautiful, smart woman had been subjected to such torture and didn’t even have the leisure of being able to forget the pain. It broke him to think about how he promised her, _promised her_ , that to his dying breath he wouldn’t let anything happen to her. To her fire, which burned so brightly that he struggled to look away.

Nesta sighed, and he could see tears start to well up in her eyes.

“I’m telling you this Cassian…” She paused and lifted her other hand so that Cassian’s face was cradled by her. “Because I remember seeing you shield Azriel with the only thing that you could, and lying half dead on the ground, barely able to lift a muscle.” A tear escaped Nesta’s eye, and her face scrunched up in distress. “And I remember how you still tried to reach out to me, to save me from those bastards, and how you used all the strength you had left to try and help me and my sister.”

*

The tears were falling freely from Nesta now. She was unable to repress her sobs as the memories of that night flashed before her eyes. The ache she felt when she recalled the image of the man before her, covered in blood and struggling to rise, and how he called out her name. Called her name as if she was the most precious of gifts, and she was about to be destroyed.

“Nesta…” There was a heartbreaking tenderness in the way he said her name. He placed his hands over her own, entwining their fingers. “I’m so sorry. I’m so, horribly sorry. Please forgive me. I will do anything, please just forgive me.” Cassian slowly leaned forward so his face was within an inch of hers, and delicately, as if she might break from his touch, gently kissed and licked away her tears. This only made her cry harder, how tender this warrior could be, when she had only ever treated him as a monster.

Cassian removed his hands from hers and made to move away, misinterpreting her continued sobs as a sign to stop, as a sign that she didn’t want him anywhere near her. However, as he moved away she fiercely grabbed onto the front of his shirt to keep him where he was.

“You don’t understand Cassian,” she asserted. “There is absolutely nothing to forgive. You did nothing wrong, and you did not break your promise to me.”

Cassian stared at her confused. “Then why are you crying Nesta?”

“I’m crying because I treated you like you were a monster, that you were an inferior, bastard born, inhuman, animal, when you are none of those things Cassian. You are kind, and you are loyal, and you treat me like I’m strong and are capable, rather than walking around me like you’re on eggshells like most people do. And I’m crying because I am the one who is sorry, and I am the one who needs forgiveness from _you_ Cassian-”

Cassian interrupted her by wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her.

He just couldn’t help himself.

But he regretted his actions when she didn’t respond to his kiss, and was about to pull away when she gasped slightly and kissed him back harder than he could have imagined.

The kiss was hard, and passionate, and their teeth crashed and he could taste the sweetness on her tongue and it was perfect.

One of Nesta’s hands remained pulling at the front of his shirt, trying to get him as close to her as she could, while the other tangled itself in his dark hair. Nesta moaned as his tongue stoked into her mouth. Cassian pulled back from Nesta, must to her disdain, only to then start kissing up and down her throat. He kissed and sucked at the same spot that once made her rip away from him, but the response he got now was nothing like that.

Nesta’s hand clumsily pulled at his shirt, trying to get it off.

Suddenly Cassian let out a hiss of pain and did truly pull away this time. Realisation swept across Nesta’s face as she saw what she did. She had accidently grazed Cassian’s still bound wings.

“Shit Cassian-”

“Its fine, Sweetheart.” He said with a smirk plastered on his face. Looking her in the eyes, he lifted his shirt off, carefully around his wings, exposing the chiselled muscle of his abdomen from centuries of training. Next, he sensually eased down his pants, letting free the generous length of him.

Nesta visibly swallowed at the sight, making Cassian’s smile grow. He came close to her again, but this time when he kissed her it was sweet and tantalizing, different from the heated way they had just been making out.

Without breaking the kiss, he slowly reached forward and started to untie the strings at the front of her bodice. Though as unexpectedly sexy it was, Nesta was impatient at his pace. She knocked back his hands and started doing it herself, exposing her generous breasts to him.

He groaned in satisfaction at the sight of her perked nipples and felt himself twitch.

Hesitantly, giving her time if she changed her mind, he started massaging her left breast with his hand, thumb rubbing over her nipple. He kissed her once more on the mouth, but before she could deepen the kiss he started peppering kisses on her face.

He kissed her temple, then her cheek, her jaw, her collarbone. He worked his way down until his tongue lightly grazed her nipple, making Nesta moan.

He became more enthusiastic, sucking and biting at her breast, trying to elicit as many sounds from her as he possibly could. He stopped using his hands on her, only to start removing her clothes once again. Nesta, once again impatient at his pace, groaned into his ear, “ _Just rip it off Cassian_.”

And that he did.

*

She was becoming undone. Standing nearly completely bare in front of him with nothing but her panties on, Nesta supposed she should feel self-conscious. But she didn’t. He felt whole, like he was a piece of her that she didn’t know was missing, like it didn’t matter that there was a war on the horizon because he was with her and she was with him and all she could concentrate on was his fingers, that were tracing circles against her stomach, edging lower with every motion.

He has his mouth on hers again, and she could definitely get used to this, when his fingers deftly swiped down her core, causing her to become weak at the knees from the new sensation.

“Cassian,” she moaned.

“I love it when you say my name like that.”  He groaned in response.

“ _Cassian_.”

Without warning, Cass removed his hands from her body, causing a slight whimper on her part, only to grab her thighs and hitch her legs up around hips. He lowered them to the floor, careful that when he laid her down she was comfortable.

He put his fingers on her again, rubbing her clit until she was withering below him. One arm braced beside her head, he kissed her as he pushed a finger inside her. He pulled in and out, adding another finger as his hand became from slick from her wetness. Increasing his speed, Nesta arched her back from the floor, uncontrollably moaning. She had never felt so good before.

  _More more more more more_.

Cassian, as if hearing her thoughts, kissed down her body until he was above her entrance with his mouth, pushing her panties to the side to give him access to her. Staring her in the eyes, all it took was once swipe of his tongue for her to completely unravel. Pleasure rushed through her body, hands reaching down to pull Cassian up to her again, a soft cry emitting from her lips.

*

Cassian followed her silent order, and braced himself above her again. He smiled at her, lightly wiping away the hair that was stuck to her face from sweat.

“Cassian.” She said his name like a prayer.

“Nesta.” He was equally in awe of her.

“Did you feel that?” She asked. Her expression was dazed, her breathing heavy.

“No Sweetheart, but I don’t need to. I don’t need anything more than this.” He answered.

She lightly laughed and pushed him away from her, until he was lying stomach down on the floor, head rested on his arms next to her. She curled up on his side and put her arm around his waist, careful to not touch his wings.

“Not that, although I’m done with you yet,” it was her turn to smirk. “I meant… I meant… that feeling, when you were inside me and I was calling your name. It was like you sunk into me. Not your physical self but your essence. I could see myself through your eyes, I could feel your happiness.”

His eyes snapped onto hers.

“What are you saying Nesta?”

Nesta, as comfortable as she was, started to get up and redress herself. She smiled lightly when she put on her now torn dress, and threw Cassian’s clothes at him as he too got up. As they dressed and cleaned up the mess they had made in the small store, Cassian’s question still hung in the air.

Righting a chair that had been knocked over, _when did that even happen?,_ Nesta ran her fingers down Cass’s face, who turned his mouth so that he could kiss her fingertips.

“I think-I think you’re my mate Cassian.”


End file.
